A DISTRAUGHT mum whose six-year-old son had his ear nearly ripped off by a dog has told of her horror at the savage attack.

Ryan Cashmore-Thorley needed 70 stitches after he was mauled by an 11-month-old Weimaraner German hunting dog while playing at a friend’s house.

The schoolboy of Bryngwran, Anglesey, was rushed to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd for a two-hour emergency operation to save his ear, last Wednesday.

Surgeons said two severe bites narrowly missed a nerve.

Yesterday his mum Jen Cashmore-Thorley, 54, described how the dog growled at Ryan in the friend’s back garden, and when the little boy ran, it chased him and jumped on his back.

She said: “It is terrifying, he had only been in the garden for two minutes and the attack happened, it was all so quick.

“The dog chased and shook Ryan before biting his ear, he is lucky to have an ear left at all after the attack.

“When our eldest son Ian, 29, found Ryan the whole top of his ear was hanging off, it looked terrible.

“Now we want the dog controlled or destroyed for the safety of other children.

“We don’t feel bitter or angry towards the family because they could not have known this would happen, but they should do something now.”

Jen revealed Ryan is now too scared to go near the family’s own four dogs.

She and husband Alan were travelling on the A55 when daughter Rebecca, 18, phoned and told that son Ryan had been mauled

Mrs Cashmore-Thorley said: “I felt sick as we went through Penmaenmawr and saw an ambulance going the other way, I thought it must be Ryan.

“I felt bad that we had not taken our own car so that we could have gone straight to hospital. We had no idea what was going on.”

Surgeon Jacob D’Souza of Ysbyty Glan Clwyd’s Oral Maxillo and Facial Department, said: “He had a deep cut to the ear which meant it was split in the middle.

“He also had a bite to skin in front of the ear, which could have affected the nerves that move facial muscles causing long-term damage.

“It was important to clean and stitch the wound as if he picked up an infection from the dog, his ear could become deformed.”

Mrs Cashmore-Thorley added: “They have done a good job and physically he is recovering well, mentally it will take a lot longer. We have four dogs ourselves and he has been saying to me ‘they won’t shake me will they’. He is scared when he sees dogs in the street.

“We’ve researched the breed. They’re hunting dogs known for being a handful. Whenever you have a dog you need to keep an eye on its behaviour especially when children are involved.”

A North Wales police spokeswoman said: “Our enquiries are on-going.”

Ryan’s story comes just days after three-and-a-half month old Jaden Joseph-Mack died after being mauled by two dogs at his grandmother’s house at Ystrad Mynach, South Wales.